Most businesses begin with a little start up fund—something to rent out a store front, buy the materials you need, pay the staff. But especially in places as remote as Nakivale Refugee Settlement, residents don’t have access to these types of materials.
In Nakivale, we seek out groups that might have a harder than average time accessing funds and opportunities to start or grow a business. Our team focuses especially on helping socially-minded businesses – from using your time to train single mothers or giving youth something to do.
Today we met with an entrepreneurial group our team knows well. We’ve been scheming of ways to help them for a while. Today, we’re making our move.
This group is especially aimed at helping people with special needs. While a disability might be able to prevent them from labor-intensive farm work, they’re able to make ends meet by specializing in things like shoe-making and mending.
We helped gather all the things they needed to kick start their business – shoe repair and cleaning supplies, shoe polish, and even shoes so they can fix them up and sell them.
Masi, the head of the group, was so grateful for the support. “Many organizations have been asking us to submit a list for support—for over two years now—but no one has actually come with support for us,” he said. “This is going to boost our income because we’ve been lacking these basic items for so long. Thank you so much.”
